What's Left of Us
by CAS2109
Summary: You'd think I would remember how this all started, that I would remember how all of this went to hell. The truth is that I don't. Why? Because this isn't like the standalone moments in time, like a new game release or a new Prime Minister being elected. This is life now. This is what we wake up to every morning. This is What's Left of Us... A self-insert fan-fic of The Last of Us.
1. Early Mourning

The Last of Us – What's Left of Us

CAS2109

**ACT I – Unfolding Future**

**Prologue "Early Mourning" - 17****th**** October 2013, United Kingdom, 5:30 am**

Sighing I roll out of bed, cursing my broken alarm for going off two hours early, clumsily I fumble in my darkened room for the _off _switch, five seconds passed before my efforts were successful in turning the damned alarm off. Rubbing my eyes I turn to get back asleep, the distant chirping of birds amidst the calm morning wind guiding me back to my interrupted peaceful slumber.

With a deep breath I begin to drift off, the uneventful day ahead of me leaving me no other option. I turn over again, struggling to find a relaxing thought and knock my head against the bedside cabinet, sending several items crashing to the floor.

Whispering silent curses of frustration, I get out of bed again to reach out in the darkness for my fallen belongings, I grab something in the unseen void in front of me, I bring it closer to my face to identify it. To my luck I discover it was one of my flash-lights, turning it on I use its powerful LED bulbs to locate the rest of the items before placing them back on the table and turning the flash-light off.

Clambering back into bed, I check the time on my I-pod, _quarter to six_, I think in disbelief before returning it to its charging station, not bothering to check if it was actually charging or not.

I roll over again muttering silently trying again to find some way of sleeping, I finally find a comfortable position and shut my eyes, breathing a silent sigh of relief. Only to be awoken violently mere seconds later by the screeching of tires and the collision of metal...followed by screams of terror.

_What the hell was that_? I think to myself as I rise out of bed and walk, rubbing my eyes, to my window barely three clumsy steps away. Peeling back my curtains and pulling up my blinds slightly I gaze out in mute horror at the scene outside, it was something ripped straight from an apocalypse film.

Two mangled and burning cars illuminated the nearby main road, lighting up the night in a flickering of dark orange, suddenly another car ploughed into the back of the flaming set of cars at high speed, clearly running from something, dropping the blind to protect my eyes, I am near deafened by the third explosion that in turn set off another two.

My window shattered from the force of the explosion, sending shards of broken glass flying in every direction and clean through some walls of my room, one shard missed me by inches as I threw myself to the floor and embedded itself in my bed, it's entry hole was soon joined by many others.

Shaking, I stand up, to view the chaos outside, I stumble back in disbelief as plumes of black smoke rise up from the main road, polluting the red dawn sky. My eyes began to widen due the sheer shock of the events that were playing out as someone who was running down my street was suddenly torn down by a mob of people who were screaming like banshees and beaten to death despite his pleas for mercy. I take a step back from the window as his shrieks of agony begin to fade.

_What the __**hell**__ is going on_? I think to myself, _Is this a dream? No it can't be a dream, no dream I've had was as vivid as this...shit this is actually happening._

Throwing myself over my ruined bed I pull my camping rucksack out of my wardrobe and lie it on my bed before starting to place items of importance in it, _warm clothes– check, food and water-downstairs,camping mat and sleeping bag-check, _I begin to think as I grab items that I will need to survive. I look up as another powerful explosion sounds off in the distance, followed by more screams, reminding me of the urgency of the situation.

_Er..what else do I need? Come on think damn it! _I shout at myself mentally, my still sleeping brain still not quite taking in what was happening. _Waterproofs and walking boots! There we go, now let's get moving._

I pick up the rucksack, surprised at how light it was with all the items I had put in, putting it back down I quickly get changed into better clothing, pulling a black fleece over my head I call for my parents in the neighbouring room both of whom I hadn't heard move during the unfolding chaos. I stick on a set of thick socks and pull up some running trousers before putting on my hiking boots, tying their laces in a double knot I stand up and do another check of my items, calling again for my parents, again receiving no answer.

_Almost forgot to take a torch, whoops ha. _I laugh at myself as I glance over at my bedside cabinet. Walking around my bed I breath deeply as I cast a pity filled glance at the world outside just as a police helicopter flies overhead, shining it's powerful searchlight on the chaos on the main road...before officers inside began opening fire.

_Jesus_ , I think to myself as I grab my flash-light, _This is really going to shit_.

I drop to a crouch as dozens of gunshots echo outside, looking up, I see my I-pod staring at me with longing, _Fine, ah frak it_. I think to myself as I grab the I-pod and its charging dock as well as a small solar panel I received for taking part in a competition last year. Sticking all three items in my rucksack I put it on and adjust the straps before wandering out of the room still half asleep despite there being enough gunshots and explosions taking place outside for it to have been classed as a small war.

Rubbing my eyes and yawning I call for my parents again as I walk into their room and stop dead in my tracks.

"Oh Fuck." I half cry, half shout out.

**A/N The prologue has been briefly re-written due to the 17th being a holiday for me, new chapters to follow over the next week folks!**


	2. All Alone

**Chapter 1 "All Alone" - 17****th**** October 2013, United Kingdom, 6:12 am**

I stood in the doorway gaping in shock at what I was seeing, my whole body swayed on the spot unable to react to the scene in the room beyond. My dad sat crouched moaning softly in between deep sighs.

"Dad?" I ask in a quiet voice.

I only receive a moan in return and my dad stumbles sideways, clashing his head with the bloodstained wooden bed.

_Why is there blood in here_? I ask myself, taking another step inside the room, my nose cringing in disgust at the smell inside.

"Dad?" I cough out against the smell, "Are you and Mum okay?"

My dad again moans out, this time shuffling slowly to face me, as he does I notice a strange yellow dust float from his ears that I hadn't seen at first, noticing that something isn't right I back up three steps.

"Dad?" I ask again my voice wavering_._

That was when he looked at me, my heart seemed to just stopped, it was as if he was possessed.

"_Dad, stop it!" I shouted at him noticing that my right leg had started shaking uncontrollably._

As I stamped my right foot on the floor, my Dad hissed at me, freezing I looked up and tried to hold in a scream of cold terror.

My Dad's eyes had turned to a hazy yellow, the same colour as the dust and he had some sort of growth expanding from his ears, I backed up again, holding down the bile that was forcing itself up my throat.

_Oh shit, shit, what the fuck is going on? _I manage to think over the thoughts of panic that raced through my head, blocking any form of physical action.

My eyes widened as the thing used to be my dad shuffled forward and swung its arm at me, the clumsy blow barely missing my head, I ducked and fell sideways as my "dad" shambled forward, roaring in a form of blinding rage. Using my rucksack as a support I turn on my back and push my way along the floor with my hands, my attempt at a back-pedal increases in speed when I see my "dad" enter the hallway.

_Okay let's get a fucking move on,_ I think to myself as I scramble to my feet the shuffling of my "dad's" feet getting ever closer. My loud footfalls echo throughout the house as I sprint down the stairs although my "dad's" feet shuffling upstairs are the only things I hear.

I almost throw myself through the kitchen door when I get near to it, my head still reeling from the horror moving around upstairs.

_What the fucking hell is going on?_ I cry out inside, starting to notice that my vision is beginning to blur slightly. My hands clutched my head as I sob quietly for a moment, my arms resting on the kitchen worktop. _Right, _I think weakly, _there's only one thing I can do now and whatever is up there now ain't going to like it_. Starting to shake ever more noticeably I fumble for the knife drawer in the faint morning light, upon finding it I yank it open, the _ching _of rattling cutlery inside the drawer rang out around the dead house and the sound of the continuing shooting outside ricocheted around the walls causing me to cringe with each shot.

My shaking hand shot into the drawer and retrieved a long steak knife that my Dad used to use for cooking Sunday family dinners, the memory alone was enough for me to throw the knife away.

I cringed as the knife hit the laminated floor with a loud metallic _thud_, this was followed by the creaking of wood upstairs.

_Oh frak it's coming down here_, I thought, now completely terrified. I looked at the knife on the floor and back up at the stairs only to see a blood soaked foot stamp down on it and sway slightly, I gulped loudly. _I'm going to have to do this aren't I? Oh god this is fucked up, I'm going to have to kill-_

"My own dad," I whisper out loud, my lip twitching in terror at the figure descending from upstairs.

As I lowered my rucksack on the floor, the rustle of the fabric and the rattling of the straps and clips became one of the few sounds I cared about now the main one being the shuffling footsteps on the laminate wood flooring and the other being my own heart.

_Wait. Laminate wood? Shit, it's blocking the front door now. _I think to myself, now knowing the only thing I can do now, I pick up the steak knife and make my way towards the door, noticing that every muscle in my body was now twitching with raw fear amplified by adrenalin.

_Not a good combo_, I think to myself knowing full well I'm a danger to my own safety not just to the monster around the corner.

Breathing deeply I take comfort in the fact that my dad wouldn't want to end up as what he is now and that doing this will most likely put him to rest.

Taking a calming breath I turn the corner and my fear returns, my "dad" was half standing half crouching in the middle of the hall and was slowly shuffling towards the kitchen. It looked at me with it's cold, dead eyes and drooled crimson blood from its mouth, it looked at me and snarled in a rage before it charged at me. Screaming in terror I swung the knife wildly, catching my "dad" in the neck as I did so, crimson blood and a dark orange fluid spurted from the wound causing me to fall backwards and cry out in terror.

"_Oh fuck!"_ I shout out in surprise as the creature continued to move, snapping it's jaws in an attempt to bite me_, "No, oh god no!" _I continue shouting as the creature crawled forwards, despite it's weakening strength.

I kicked it in the head twice as I back-pedalled on my hands, caving in the weakened skull, pools of grey matter spilled out of the wound and a terrible stench followed it.

As I stumbled to my feet, I turn with the knife ready to find what was my Dad little more than an hour ago dead on the floor.

My head began to feel light and my body swayed, stumbling on the spot.

"_W-what h-h-have I-I done?"_ I cry out, my voice cracking with stress and fear_, "Oh s-shit!"_

I drop the knife without hearing it hit the ground, a throbbing in my head caused me to fall backwards through the bathroom door. Landing with a thud, I turn on my belly and pull myself up only to throw up in the sink, adding to the already putrid stench. Coughing up bile, I turn back to the body, now illuminated by the red dawn light that shined in through the broken front door window, the rays of light made the orange liquid and the dust, shine a bright yellow.

I wipe my mouth with my hand before standing up again, though I still swayed slightly I walked back into the kitchen and picked up the rucksack and began loading it with food, water and medicine.

_Okay...now what?_ I think to myself, as I put on the rucksack and walk towards the front door, taking care to not step on my "dad's" body, almost certain that my mum had died at the hands of that creature I took in a whimpering breath and turned to the front door. I pressed down on the handle to find it locked. _Shit my keys are upstairs_.

Running up the stairs, I enter my room to find my keys by the window. I began walking over to pick them up looking outside as I passed the window, I stared in disbelief at the chaos outside, countless columns of smoke towered over the sky from the main road and the police helicopter had moved to somewhere in the distance, still firing at whatever moved.

_And I'm going out there_, I thought to myself in light of what I'd just seen, _I'm frakking insane._

I returned to the hall, holding my keys in my right hand, with a grimace I turned to my parents room and walked in, finding my mum dead on the floor, butchered by the creature downstairs, her lifeless eyes pleaded with me to help her, but I had come to late. I walk out of the room, tears welling in my eyes and all the thoughts swirling inside my head that had become too much to take in, I began to slowly go over what had happened in my head as I headed downstairs, categorising the events for in depth thinking when I was safer, now wasn't the time to mourn.

_God damn it I sound like such an asshole_. I think to myself as I rub tears from my eyes.

I reached the front door and inserted my key, looking out the broken window I search for a few moments for any movement, upon finding nothing I open the door and step outside.

**A/N Well I got that chapter out pretty quick so I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for the reviews everyone, I have taken all of them on board. Also should you wish to appear in this fan-fic PM me and I'll see where you can fit into the overall story.**


	3. Keep Moving forward

**Chapter 2 "Keep Moving Forward" - 17****th**** October 2013, United Kingdom, 6:32am**

I step out of the door and close it behind me, locking it on instinct, sighing I turn around to be hit by the continuing chaos of the morning, while I was away from the window a car had crashed on the street. I walk over to it, checking for any signs of life, as I near the car it becomes clear that my search was in vain as smoke races around the inside of the car, obscured by the cracked windows.

I close my eyes and turn away from the wreck as the smell of cooked flesh starts to fill the air and trickles of smoke start finding their way out of the vehicle as they pour through door handles and out of the trunk.

I take a breath again and walk down the street for a few meters before I turn left into an alleyway between two wooden fences, as I move through it I hear screams on both my right and left as well as the sickening sound of squelching flesh.

"What the hell is going on?" I repeat to myself, still piecing everything together.

Another series of gunshots sounds in the distance, I crouch behind a fallen fence near the end of the alleyway for protection, noticing a mangled body lying beneath the snapped pieces of wood as I did so.

"Frak" I curse in my geeky substitute that hadn't really applied earlier as I cover my mouth and nose to protect myself from the stench, "Poor bastard."

More gunshots ring out in the distance, barely audible over the helicopter's rotor blades as it made another run over the area.

"The police are using live ammo," I say as the realisation dawned on me, "How frakking bad is this?"

I look up to see another car pulling onto the main road only to get swarmed by dozens of these "infected" as I had taken to calling them now, the driver's dying screams echoing off of the nearby hill and the infected's inhumane roar made me shiver in terror.

I look behind me to see the smoke starting to rise in large amount from the crashed car behind me, the thought of being flanked by the infected forced me onto my feet and I made my way across a neglected concrete plaza, weeds and grass had successfully reclaimed it long ago. As the plaza descended into a hill, I stood up and jogged to the bottom, I stopped at the chained gate and looked back again with a look of longing and sadness towards my home, dwarfed by the belching smoke plumes thrown out by the houses behind it, blood red in the dawn sunlight, the smell of charred wood, plaster and flesh quickly becoming unbearable as I scaled the gate.

Landing with a thud, I looked up and quickly glanced over the area, I was more or less on the main road now and the lines of cars on it seemed to stretch on both directions for miles, on my left a pub with it's doors and windows kicked in offered no sign of comfort and the dripping blood from the broken glass only confirmed that thought.

I suddenly remembered the horde that had overwhelmed that car minutes before and stood up, looking for them intently, what surprised me was that they were nowhere to be found, the area was deserted.

I began to walk along the pavement toward a nearby petrol station, I was going to pick up batteries and possibly a map if there was one, I crossed a small road and walked around a car that had forced it's way onto a kerb, blood smeared all over the inside but there wasn't a body to be found.

Something moved in the bushes behind me, I gasped in surprise and turned around wielding an invisible knife my hand shaking again, upon realising that I had left the knife in the house and that the movement was just wind, I mentally slapped myself and kept on walking towards the petrol station, waves of paranoia sweeping over me.

_Well done you idiot, at least start acting like a top set student for once goddamnit_! A part of my brain shouted out at me over the uncontrollable mess that was my inner thoughts.

I started to clear my thoughts of certain events to free up areas for quick thinking, first to go were my parents, continuing to think about them now was only going to do harm to myself mentally and I couldn't risk that so I stomped the images of them both lying dead on the floor from my mind. Doing this however opened up another worry, _Oh shit my sister_. I cried out in my head, stopping dead in my tracks physically I leaned against a lampost and started to breakdown again. My sister had been at a school trip for the past few days so I had little reason think about her other than celebrating being free from her annoying antics.

Now however she was out of my protection in the middle of a frakking apocalypse and was probably dead as a result.

_Son of a bitch! God dammit! _I called internally out again, tears rolling down my face. Unlike me she had never went to any actual camps or knew basic survival skills so the cold calculus part of my mind signed her off as dead, despite me believing the contrary.

_There could still be a chance, _I begin to argue with my self.

_No there isn't and you __**know**__ that, she was on a trip to London on a History trip, that city's a clusterfrak-in-progress right now if this town's hit the fan so quickly_.

I mentally pick myself up and sniffing back tears, I continue towards the petrol station.

_Someone I know __**had **__to have made it_. I state to myself, I can't be the only one.

The helicopter flies over the road again firing into a nearby stadium, I duck behind a white SUV, the window broken and a body snagged on sharp broken shards of glass.

Cringing at the mangled body and contorted face of the body, I work my way around the vehicle, finding a cluttered petrol station behind it.

"Right" I croak to myself, my voice outputting dozens of emotions at once, "Let's get to work."

I pull myself up a brick ledge to the side of the petrol station, grunting as I did so. Rubbing my raw eyes with my hand I make my way quickly into the petrol station, flinching as the helicopter flew over again, still firing, the rounds ricocheting off of cars and inside buildings.

_What the hell are they shooting at? I don't see shit..._I ask myself as the helicopter disappears over the petrol station's rooftop.

Returning to a crouch I walk inside, pulling open the jammed automatic doors.

_Looks like the power's out._ I say to myself as I enter the gloomy interior of the station, advertisements and posters stare at me from the corners, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

_This is creepy, so lets make it quick. _A voice inside my head chimes in.

Pulling out my torch, a turn it on and sweep it's light over the shelves, I quickly find a map and varying sizes of batteries as well as more food and drink. As I walk near the counter I pick up some earphones for my I-pod and a set of binoculars.

_Don't mind if I do..._I almost laugh to myself as I pick them up, _after all I left mine in the house because I'm a genius. Yay! _The tone from this new voice was dripping with sarcasm.

The sound of feet shuffling outside causes me to crouch beside the check out counter. I raised my head slightly to see three infected drop out of a car and begin to shuffle toward the main road but sticking to the shadows as they did so.

_I've got to get out of here. _I say to myself as I back away from the window, using my torch to scan quickly over the items of the station for any potential weapons. Upon finding a wooden broom near the back door, I pick it up and snap the strawy end off. The snap bounced off the walls and flew outside, causing the footsteps to stop and come the other way.

"Shit," I curse out loud as the moans of the infected came into earshot.

I look up from the snapped broom to see a hand slam into the station's front window, the cries of the three infected hit me into a state of fear.

That was when another sound echoed around the area, the _swoosh_ of rotor blades, before I could stop it a smile cascaded across my face.

"See you in hell frakkers," I laugh at the infected before I try to open the back door, only to find it locked.

"Just my frakking luck" I say as I begin to hit the door with the broom in an attempt to force the lock open, I never even got the first hit in before the police helicopter opened fire causing me to drop the broom to cover my ears.

The brutal assault lasted for ten seconds as the helicopter gunned down the infected without remorse but as I looked up from my position I felt only fear.

_Oh shit_. I think to myself as the smell of petroleum floods into the station, drowning out even the rotting bodies outside with it's powerful smell, _They've hit one of the pumps, I need to leave n- _I was halfway through thinking before one of the pumps outside exploded, sending oily flames though the liquefied windows and casting a burning light on my exposed skin for mere moments.

I hadn't even recovered my hearing when the other three pumps detonated, sending my body cartwheeling through the station, my screams of shock and agony drowned out by the quick but powerful explosion outside.

I hit the wall with a muffled thump, my vision went black and all I could hear was my laboured and irregular breathing, then I blacked out all together...

**A/N Another Quick update, I hope that you liking the story so far (I'm enjoying writing it anyway) I might be able to update the story again today but that might change. Thanks for the reviews and follows, for my first fan-fic, this has certainly been well received.**


	4. Making Do

**Chapter 3 "Making Do" - 17****th**** October 2013, United Kingdom, Time Unknown**

I began to slowly regain consciousness, my eyes struggling to open fully and my limbs protested to every command I gave them. Groaning in pain I collapse into a coughing fit, I could barely see my hand in front of my face and I was struggling to move.

Taking in a gasp of air, coughing out smoke as I did so, I forced myself up a set of shelves. My leg began to shake in excruciating pain, I hooked my arms over the blackened top shelves as my legs gave way, causing me to knock over charred cans and tins. Gritting my teeth as they fell.

"Son of a bitch," I pant out, struggling to hold my own weight up in my present state.

I begin to shuffle along the shelve, knocking several items onto the floor as I do so. I reach the end of the shelve and give a feeble push with my best leg, I fall into my target shelf and my forehead collides with the blunt edge of the top shelf.

Cursing in pain and frustration I turn on my back, my rucksack rustling beneath me and stare at the charred ceiling. Now that the majority of the smoke had cleared from the room, aside from the cindering remains of cans, paper and plastic that littered the floor, I could see the devastation caused by the helicopter's stray bullets.

I looked down to see my legs blistering through the holes in my trousers and my arms were red raw.

_Shit_, I thought as I rolled over and dropped my rucksack.

I began frantically searching through my rucksack, my hands soon closed around a bottle of water, that, surprisingly, wasn't all that warm. I tore the bottle out of my rucksack and unscrewed the cap.

I thought for a brief moment what limb was in the most need for the water, deciding that it was my left arm I poured half the bottle evenly across it after I had rolled my sleeve up. I let out a long sigh of relief before downing the rest of the bottle, the cool liquid clearing my throat, and stowing it back in my rucksack.

_Okay, let's go for attempt number two_, I thought as I prepared to lift myself up again, bracing myself for the pain that was surely to follow and grabbed onto a nearby shelf.

_Three...two...one..._I begin counting down in my head before I began pulling myself up.

With a grunt of muffled pain, I reach the top shelf, barely one and a bit meters above the ground and stand up, picking up the rucksack and slowly pulling it on, I notice that the pain I experienced the first time had become somewhat distant.

_That's weird...but not unappreciated, _I note mentally as I begin shuffling along the shelf, stopping every few meters to ensure I never hurt myself.

_Careful Captain Cautious, you can't let yourself trip on a tin can or whatnot_, mocked the sarcastic voice from before.

Sighing in annoyance, I ignored the voice and continued my slow path towards the back door, which had been blown off it's rusted hinges by the explosion. Upon reaching the end of the shelf, I guessed that I was little more than five steps from the door, I let go of the shelf and attempted to walk the last few steps.

Stumbling significantly as I walked toward the door, a light warm breeze brushing against my probably cut-to-hell-face causing several burns to flare up, instinctively I raised my hands up to protect them but in doing so I exposed the burns on my hands to the breeze but thankfully they did not react so extremely to the temperate air flowing in through the door.

Upon reaching the door I leaned against the wall to the right of it, breathing deeply I rest my head against my forearm and cringe at the sudden jolt of pain across my forehead.

_Well that's bruised, don't know how bad though..._I think as I take my I-pod out of my rucksack's side pocket and use it as a makeshift mirror. I began to stare at the state my face was in a large cut was dominate across the left side of my face, dried blood had formed an outline around it as it crossed over my eye socket, making my navy blue eyes stand out more. My short, dark brown hair had been diluted by a crimson smear, making it shinier than usual and my somewhat pointy jaw was criss-crossed by smaller cuts I guessed where from my bedroom window this morning as the wounds had already scabbed over.

_Speaking of "this morning" what time is it anyway? _I ask myself, turning my I-pod over and pressing the menu button, my lock screen flashed on instantly, a picture of the International Space Station was dead centre of the screen with the time displayed above.

_Quarter past twelve_, I state, shocked at the time difference, _I've been out for six hours...how bad was that explosion?_

I turn my I-pod back off and place it back in the side pocket of the rucksack. I then sit down on the short wall outside of the back door and pull out a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar and begin to eat them, _Not much of a lunch_, I tell myself,_ but it'll make do._

I hear movement from around the corner seconds after I finish eating, I stand up and realise that I'm backed into a one way alley.

I look around frantically for a weapon, sweat starting to form on my brow as I take three steps backward limping and scrunching my face in discomfort at each step.

As the footfalls got closer I discerned that it was a group of either infected or survivors, my foot snagged on a fallen metal pipe. I pick up the pipe and wield it like a bat, slinging it against my right shoulder and kept quiet as the group neared the corner.

It was only when they turned the corner did I feel a wave of euphoria wash over me as I recognise all three of them.

"Jamie? Rhys? Darren?" I cry out, "Holy shit...someone actually made it!"

The taller of the three, Rhys, looks at me, "Jesus, Scott, you look like shit."

I stand still, swaying slightly, I hadn't actually planned for anyone I knew to survive, this had opened up lots of options. I don't hear what Rhys says to me over my own shock but I follow them regardless when they start moving again.

I limp after them as they lead the way back down the main road, heading east...straight into the town centre.

"You guys can't be serious..." I mutter under my breath.

**A/N Another quick update, I don't know if I will be able to get another two out tomorrow as I am going out for the day but I will try to upload at least something. Again thanks for your reviews, favourites and follows, they are really helpful.**


	5. Realisation

**Chapter 4 "Realisation" - 17****th**** October 2013, United Kingdom, 12:20pm**

After three minutes of walking we had neared the entrance to our secondary school, pausing for a moment I call for the others to stop.

"What is it Scott?" asks Rhys with a hint of annoyance, "We have our plan of action."

"Your 'plan of action' ain't worth shit if you can't kill those things," I reply with equal bitterness, "The town centre will be crawling with them and the school's bound to have stuff we could use."

Rhys looked at me with a clear feeling of anger but acceptance of what I had said, grunting he turned left onto the street where the entrance was.

I heard him mutter something under his breath.

"What was that Rhys?" I call out only to be ignored, "Just because I survived an explosion doesn't mean I've gone deaf."

I decided to tone down my chatter towards him, it wasn't a bright idea to get into a fight with someone two whole heads taller than you.

_He might be annoying at times_ I say to myself,_but I'm not stupid, he would beat me in a one on one fight_.

I take out some moderate painkillers from my rucksack as we walk down the road and swallow two pills before stowing them away again, zipping the pouch shut.

I cast my eyes off to the right, rows upon rows of houses that seemed empty and desolate, with no sign of life behind their broken windows and busted down doors sprawled up the hillside. Some houses still puffed out columns of heavy black smoke into the sky that were joined by hundreds more from all directions.

_There just isn't an end to this is there? _I think to myself, shaking my head in disbelief at the scale of destruction.

As we near the entrance to the school car park I look back over to the houses and almost cry out in surprise.

"What the hell?" I say aloud at the sight to the right of me, causing me to pause in horror, confusion and intrigue.

A two story house about thirty meters to my right was leaking out thousands of small pieces of dust that changed from a grey colour to a feint yellow in the sunlight before they seemed to just vanish. I stopped again and moved closer to the house fascinated by the sheer amount of dust flooding out of the place, it was only when I was close enough to see in the windows did I realise what they really were.

In fact I froze in terror when the reality behind the dust became clear. I turned to the rest of my friends who cast looks of confusion at me.

"What is it Scott?" asked Jamie.

"Have you guys ever played that game _The Last of Us_?" I ask as my brain starts to put the jigsaw together.

It all made sense now, the dust from my parent's room and the house on my right were spores and the growth I'd noticed on my dad and several bodies were fungus growths. Not to mention it had broken out around the time set in the game, mid October.

_Also explains the lack of infected in the street this morning and recently_, I conclude internally, _The fungus is harmed by daylight, which means that...oh shit_.

"Everyone back away from that house, **quietly**." I half warn, half order as the amount of spores rising from the house leads me to estimate that there could be dozens of infected inside, "Let's get our stuff from the school and get the fuck away from here."

With a confused look on their faces they back up, still not realising the danger within the house but trusting me enough to heed my warning.

"You never said what _The Last of Us_ had to with this Scott..." Jamie asked quietly as all four of us backed up.

"This _is _the outbreak from _The Last of Us_," I continue as we back up, "Same month as featured, same year and _**even **_better the _same _fungus family."

"And what fungus family would that be?" asked Rhys doubtful if I even knew the name.

"Cordyceps," I shot back almost instantly, relishing the look on Rhys' face thanks to the speed I responded at.

Wordlessly he sighed and gave up arguing as we backed up from the house and around a crashed car, with pools of blood smeared across the interior but just as before, no body anywhere, confirming my suspicions of the fungus' reaction to sunlight.

We continued backing up until we were brushing the perimeter fence of the school, our boots covered in the moisture of the grass strewn strip of ground.

I look down the fence-line, to my disappointment I find that the main gate is still chained shut.

"Hold up," I say to the others, "We'll need to climb the fence."

Rhys, who was at the front of our line, turns and acknowledges before grabbing into the jet black fence to begin pulling himself up but stopped at the top when the fence began to sway slightly, letting out a metallic jangling sound that echoed around the areas.

That was when the moans of dozens of infected returned the favour, freezing me on the spot, I didn't dare to breath louder than I should.

"Oh tits," cursed Rhys as he dropped over the fence from the top, backing away from the swaying fence at his earliest opportunity.

"Everyone else move!" I say to the rest of them as I throw the pipe over and begin to climb the fence, not weighing anywhere near as much as Rhys (due to my size only being about 5 ft 5 inches, making me the smallest of the four of us) the fence didn't sway as much during my ascent. I dropped over the fence with a grunt, the snapping of twigs beneath my boots as I landed being the loudest I'd been in the past few seconds.

"Come on! Let's go!" I call over in a whisper.

Jamie is easily the quickest of us to get over the fence, not even giving it time to sway before he threw himself over the top, almost face planting the dirt on my side.

"God dammit Jamie..." I laugh silently before turning to Darren, who was still looking in fear at the house containing the infected, "Just you Darren."

Darren turned around to look at us and I realised the reason behind his terror, Darren was probably the heaviest out of all of us, I picked up the metal pipe that I had thrown over and turned back to Darren in time to see him gulp and begin to climb.

I cringe as the fence cries out in sudden stress, receiving a louder reply from the nearby infected as two enter the street, shambling towards us.

"Pick up the pace dammit!" I whisper as my heartbeat throbs in my neck and sweat forms on my brow.

Darren reaches halfway up when a sudden wail from the house charges up the street, causing even the shambling infected to pause.

"What the _**fuck **_was that?" exclaims Jamie, as the entire street quietens, the only noise being the fence as Darren forces his way over the top, landing with a thump on the dirt.

I breath in a deep sigh of relief before turning around and run my hands through my sticky hair leaving them a stained crimson colour.

_Shit, I hit my head hard back there..._I think, amazed at the blood on my hand.

We reach the reception after twenty seconds of walking across the empty car park, the pain in my legs now non-existent as we near the automatic doors that slowly slide open as we approach.

"I see those solar panels are doing their job then," I mutter, impressed that the building still has some electricity running through it, the second set of doors however are jammed shut with the glass shattered by a brick that had been thrown through.

"Heads up!" I warn as we squeeze through the broken windows, my rucksack getting snagged on several pieces of jagged glass, "We ain't the only ones with this idea."

**A/N Still managed to get a chapter out today despite what I had originally thought so I hope you enjoyed that and I'll try to keep the quick updates coming! Thanks again for your feedback and reviews, this fanfic is getting a lot more attention than I thought it would.**


	6. Breaking and Entering

**Chapter 5 "Breaking and Entering" - 17****th**** October 2013, United Kingdom, 12:33pm**

Our footsteps echoed loudly around the interior of our school's empty central "hub" as we entered the large room, the crunching of broken glass was unavoidable as we gathered by a stairwell near the entrance.

"Okay..." I begin, still calming myself down from the near disaster outside, "We should split into two groups, we can cover more ground that way and clear out of here faster."

All three of them nod in agreement although Rhys was looking a lot less happier now that he wasn't really in charge any more.

"Me and Jamie will check out the Science and Technology wing, you two take the P.E department," I say rather confident of the situation now, "Take **anything** don't hold back unless absolutely necessary."

Nodding the two walked off in the direction of the P.E department, taking care to step on as little broken glass as possible that had fallen from the shattered skylight on the roof. Darren's short strawberry blond hair gleaming in the light as the two walked through the gloomy "hub", contrasting with Rhys' darker hair that didn't show any reaction the the sunlight.

The broken, crystallised glass gleamed in the noon light, giving the "hub" floor a iced over look, thick streams of golden sunlight washed into the darkened "hub".

_In a way_, I think to myself as me and Jamie start walking towards the Science and Technology wing, _This is beautiful to look at_.

"So how did you make it out?" I casually ask Jamie, curious about how he survived seemingly unscathed.

Turning to face me he begins, his voice echoing around the deserted corridor, "The police sealed off our part of the town pretty quickly, there was a **lot **of panic at first, no-one really knew what was goin' on, then the army arrived with trucks and started loading people in. That was when a bunch of people started looting and setting fires," He stopped as we passed the Home Economics kitchens, "We should probably check in there first."

I agreed with him and turned left, sliding open a wooden door we arrived in a small bag drop-off room with three doors of choice, one took us to the staff room and the other two to separate kitchens.

"You take the kitchen on the right, I'll take the one on the left." I say, moving towards the left door.

Jamie acknowledges and enters his kitchen, the _squeak _of hinges sounding out as the door opened and shut again.

Rubbing the back of my neck I turned and entered the room, surprised that both doors had been left unlocked. I notice a light breeze coming in through the shattered windows.

I begin to look over the tabletops, many on the right-hand side of the room had been covered in glass and were covered in grime that had blown in.

I silently walk over to a cupboard, crouching down to access it I discover that it was locked.

_Very well_, I think standing up and wielding the metal pipe like a golf club, _Let's do this the hard way._

I swing the pipe against the smooth wooden cupboard, the impact splintering the wood with a loud _snap_.

_Better keep it down in here_, I think, cringing at the noise of the wood breaking, _I don't know how that fence will hold up if those infected come knocking_.

I hit the cupboard again, the pipe going straight through on this attempt, I crouch down, dropping the pipe and beginning to peel away the broken pieces of wood. To my annoyance, the cupboard only contained pots and pans, _Frak's sake_, I curse as I stand up and move to another cupboard and repeat the process.

"Any luck Jamie!?" I call out upon finding nothing else in the room.

"Just pans through here!" came a disappointed reply.

"Let's try the staff room," I recommend as I leave the kitchen, "They might keep all the dangerous stuff in there."

Jamie replies in agreement as he joins me in the bag room again, he tries the Staff room door only to find it locked.

"Stand back!" I warn as I take a step closer to the door, again wielding the pipe.

I grunt slightly as I swing the pipe, the hard impact burying it in the door with a series of snaps. I pull back on the pipe only to find it jammed in the door itself and curse.

"You want to give it a shot?" I ask Jamie as I look for an alternate battering ram.

As I turn around I hear the distinct splintering of wood and the _ching_ of steel, I turn around to be faced by Jamie holding the pipe and smiling in amusement.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I say in annoyance as I retrieve the pipe from him, "Laugh it up."

I wield the pipe again and slam it into the door twice, after hitting it a second time with the steel pipe a large crack in the wood had appeared, two kicks to this weak spot was all that was needed to force open a space wide enough for me to fit through.

I take off my rucksack, leaving it hanging on a coat peg and crawl through, cringing as some of my burns become irritated by friction with the wood.

"Anything through there?" asks Jamie from the other side.

"Nope...wait yes!" I reply upon noticing a locked cupboard labelled 'Cutting Utensils' near the back of the room, "Pass me that pipe through would ya?"

I grabbed the pipe as it was passed through the crack, letting it fall slightly as Jamie let go.

_Right...let's see what we've got_, I think as I approach the locked cupboard and begin raising the pipe before I swung it.

The end of the pipe connected with thin wooden exterior of the cupboard with a loud _crack_, sending sharp splinters of wood flying onto the floor, hitting with a quiet patter.

Looking back at the destroyed cupboard I take out a tray of small cutting knives and a decent sized steak knife.

_Ain't much to go on but hey, Zombieland Rule 32: Appreciate the little things..._

"You done in there?" asked Jamie, alarmed by the noise.

"Yep, what I found ain't exactly big but it's useful," I say as I begin passing the items through the crack.

I climb through after I'd emptied the cupboard and divide up the find between the two of us.

"These knives are useless," says Jamie with a sigh as he started putting them into his rucksack, "You'd be floored by those infected before you were in range to even throw them accurately."

"Oh no I don't plan to use them as a melee or a throwing weapon," I begin, as I look at the metal pipe lying at my side, "Well not alone anyway, you got any tape on you?"

"Nope," Says Jamie as he stands up and pulls on his rucksack, deciding that he'd packed enough knives, "Lead the way..."

Clipping my rucksack on I stand up and holster the pipe between my back and my rucksack before leaving the room with Jamie following soon after.

"So where we going now?" asked Jamie as he checked behind us.

"Tech department, we'll get some actual hard hitting things there," I begin as we continue down the corridor, passing through the Science department as we did so.

"Hold up for a second," I say as we pass the chemistry store, "I've got an idea."

"You and science," said Jamie as he rolled his eyes.

I walk up to the door of the storage room, unsurprisingly I found it was locked so in due course I responded with the pipe. As pretty much all doors in the school were wooden, breaking through them with a steel pipe wasn't really difficult.

After four decent swings with the door gave way, the familiar _crack_ of splintering wood echoed throughout the school as a crack in the door widened.

I take a look inside after I had kicked the crack open wide enough for me to fit through, red trays of chemicals and equipment litter the dozens of shelves inside, satisfied with the bounty with in I take off my rucksack and toss it through the gap.

"You don't have to come through here you know," I say to Jamie, "You can check out the Tech department while I'm doing this."

"Speaking of which what are you going to do?" asked Jamie while he looked towards the Tech department workshops only 5 meters down the corridor.

"A little experiment if they have what I need," I reply a bit too excited.

Jamie didn't reply, instead walking towards the workshops and climbing through a large broken window beside the locked doors, shaking his head and sighing as he did so.

_Lovely_, I say to myself as I start to climb through the crack cringing at my burns yet again as they brush with the jagged wood.

I brush off any snagged pieces of wood from my fleece before walking up to the first shelf, picking up my rucksack and dropping it on a nearby chair as I do so.

_Right...so what in here could act as a weapon_? I ask as I glance over the shelves, _Hydrochloric acid?Nah, doubt they'd feel it_.

_I need something highly reactive...possibly explosive or flammable_, I think as my train of thought continues, _Do they have any sulphur related items left_?

I pass by a shelf line labelled 'Sulphates', shrugging my shoulder I walk along the shelf, stopping after the fourth sealed beaker.

"Magnesium Sulphate," I read aloud as I hold the beaker of white crystals in both hands, remembering that it could be used in the production of some more volatile chemicals.

As I removed several beakers of it from the shelf, I racked my brain for any specific reaction that I could do with what I had available.

_I think_ _that Magnesium Sulphate can be used in Hydrogen Sulphide, _I conclude after a period of thinking, _all I should need is Hydrochloric Acid...which they have on that shelf._

Walking to the shelf I pull out two beakers of Hydrochloric acid and distribute the liquid among the beakers of Magnesium Sulphate, sealing the tops over the beakers after the water had started to mix with the white crystals and let out an odour reminiscent of rotten eggs.

_Damn it, this stuff reeks_, I think, almost offended by the pungent stench.

As I leave the mixture to react on a shelf near the entrance to the storage I collect my belongings, returning the now empty bottles of water to the safety of my rucksack and leave a mental note to pick up the beakers before we left.

As I clip my rucksack shut and toss it through the crack in the door, I hear a commotion coming from upstairs, although the voices were muffled I could tell that they were arguing over something.

"No Tracy, it's too dangerous!" shouted one voice upstairs, "We'll be killed!"

"Dereck we can handle ourselves!" responded another voice, "This place is done anyway."

"After how close it got with Amy I..." the first voice trailed off.

I stopped tuning in on their conversation and limped towards to entrance to the Technical Department as the pain in my leg returned, taking care not make any more noise than I had to.

"Jamie!" I call through the broken windows in a hushed shout.

Jamie didn't reply, instead he returned to the window packing enough hammers and mallets to build a large tree house.

"A tad on the overkill side don't you think?" I ask him in a whispered voice.

"Why are you whispering?" he asks looking confused.

"We've got company upstairs," I reply looking serious, "Let's go meet them."

"Why?" asks Jamie as he climbs back through the window, landing his feet back on the ground with the crunching of glass, "We've got enough people already."

"Yes but more people can have their uses," I shoot back as we begin to silently climb the nearby stairwell, rays of sunlight finding their way in through another shattered skylight.

The voices came into focus more as we neared the top of the stairwell, I could discern the same two speakers from before but I couldn't figure out where the voices were coming from.

We walk past several mathematics class rooms and I enter one through a thin broken window beside the door, after I confirm that there is no one inside, I set about raiding the various cupboards thankful that many of them are unlocked.

I find some tape in a low down cupboard in the corner, smiling I take off my rucksack on a desk and retrieve three knives. Laying out the knives and tape on the desk, I place my pipe down and begin taping the knives to the end of it. I tape two of them at ninety degrees at the end of the pipe and the last one at the end pipe with the blade pointing parallel to the rest of the pipe.

Jamie looked at me and the modified pipe with a sense of approval.

"Not too shabby," he remarked as I passed him the tape.

"Might be an idea to do the same with the mallets," I recommend as he takes the tape from me, "The hammers should be fine."

As Jamie gets to work I close over my rucksack and pull it on, I walk over to a nearby shelf and start reading through a bunch of textbooks.

"Seriously Scott?" asks Jamie in disbelief, "We're in an apocalypse and you're reading through a textbook."

"You see anything else to do?" I ask still conserving my I-pod's charge.

"You have a point there," he relies as he finishes off the last mallet.

I pack the textbook in my rucksack, deciding that it will be good reading material for later if I don't pick up anything else. As we move to leave the classroom, two sets of footsteps echo throughout the corridor.

"Shit get down," I whisper to Jamie.

We both crouch beside the door and listen to the footsteps as they draw nearer, I turn to Jamie in the tense silence.

"That isn't Rhys and Darren," I say to Jamie.

"How do you know?" asks Jamie uncertain of my conclusion.

"Because I don't remember one of them being a girl," I say causing Jamie to cover his mouth in muffled laughter.

"You sure?" he jokes.

"Ha," I laugh back, "But it's now or never."

"I say we go for it then," He replies, "I guess more is better."

"Good."

I turn to the door again and call out my voice wavering slightly, "Hey guys, people in the corridor, listen we're friendly and we are coming out, we just want to talk."

I holster the pipe and shuffle out the window with my hands raised. My suspicions of it not being Rhys and Darren are confirmed when I am met by two unfamiliar faces.

As I had suspected on of them was male and the other female, the male seemed decently built with black hair and his eyes were obscured by a set of sunglasses that he was wearing sunglasses.

The female was slightly shorter than her companion, she was thin and had long brown and wavy hair, her eyes were covered by thick reading glasses.

They both eyed me and Jamie with suspicion before the male talked his American accent surprising me as I hadn't picked it up before.

"Listen we don't want any trouble," he began upon noticing my holstered pipe, "We were just passing through and we've been though enough already."

"So say we all," I replied causing him to look at me in a strange way.

"You watch Battlestar Galactica?" he asks in a friendlier tone.

"Can't say I've seen every episode but yes it is something I've watched in the past," I reply internally documenting his reactions for a basic understanding of his personality.

"Name's Dereck," he says outstretching his hand in friendship, "This is Tracy."

"Scott," I say as I shake his hand, "This is Jamie, so I take it you're the ones who turned on the generator? Otherwise those solar panels would just be up there looking pretty."

"Correct, we were thinking of holing up here after our car crashed not to far up the hill," Dereck replied, "Only problem we're seeing right now to that plan is that this building's got more windows on the bottom floor than a glass skyscraper and they're all broken."

"What do you have powered up exactly?" I ask as I change the subject.

"Everything that the panels will support really," Dereck continued, "We can't find how to turn off certain features."

"Wait _**everything**_?" I asked, horror starting to creep into my voice.

"What is it Scott," Jamie asked, oblivious to the inevitable.

I frantically pull out my I-pod, my shaking hands putting in the four digit password. I freeze when the time pops up.

"What is it?" innocently asks Tracy.

The sharp loud bursts of the school's electronic bell, thundered over the quiet surrounding area before my warning could even leave my mouth.

The shrieks of the hundreds of now enraged infected that were harboured in the nearby houses drowned out the bell before it had reached it's third note.

"Oh fuck me sideways," I almost scream as the four of us race downstairs.

Darting into the storage area, I retrieve the beakers of my new weapon from the shelf and stow them in my rucksack before sprinting to catch up with the others. The sound of my terrified heartbeat was drowned out by the infected smashing against the straining gate, as the seconds ticked by in painful slowness we ran across the "hub", meeting an equally terrified Rhys and Darren.

"No time for introductions!" I shout out as we run past them, "Just fucking run!"

The deafening clang of several sections of the gate giving way stops us in our tracks. Turning around it becomes clear that we are surrounded by the horde and as we run back to the hub, several of us panting, we see infected clambering in through broken windows and doors.

We all stop, frantically searching for a way out but all that we find is the shrieking of the damned coming at us from everywhere.

Curses fly out of our mouths as we backtrack towards the PE department we climb out a window only to be faced by another wave of the horde.

"Anyone got any ideas?" I call out anxiously, "I'm out."

All I receive are terrified looks and whimpers of terror, things that I too am struggling to hold back. I look around with a near broken resolve trying to find a way out but again all I see are infected running towards us from everywhere. My eyes bulge with fear as I back up against a wall, there was no way out...

**A/N Another quick update everyone hope you enjoyed it!**


	7. Cutting it Close

**Chapter 6 "Cutting it Close" - 17****th**** October 2013, United Kingdom, 1:16pm**

The six of us stood with our backs to the wall, petrified of the seemingly endless streams of now running infected. They howled in rage at both us and the echoes of the school bell that bounced off the nearby hills as the lack of power seemed to have set it on an endless one-tone loop.

I looked over my surroundings in a desperate bid to find a way out but again all I found were the endless hordes of grossly mutated infected charging us from all directions.

I took another step back, estimating that the lead infect were only fifty or so meters way and closing the gap quickly, their eerie and animal like screams threw me into a state of panic. Panic that I had tried to desperately hard to prevent.

_Forty meters_, an internal clock counting down to my death warns, _If you're going to pull of a miracle now is the time to do it_.

I take another step back, my heart pounding in my ears and my head hits the wall, I hold the back of my head in pain and cry out.

_Twenty five meters,_warned the clock again as I bend over in pain_, make a frakking move_!

I look up again, they were close enough to see the fungus growing at the back of their mouths, their possessed eyes seemed to glow a light red in the noon light and some spores could be seen leaking from their ears. I gagged on bile trying to force its way up my throat, I let out a cry of fear and stumbled back, hitting my head again.

_Fifteen fucking meters_, shouted the clock,_ Don't just stand there_!

I look up through my protecting hands and into the sky, that was when I noticed how low the roof was, it was only three meters high.

"Guys!" I shout out over the screams of the infected, "Boost each other up!"

Dazed the five of them turned to me, their eyes cold with fear, upon seeing the sense in my plan, they turned to each other in a frenzy. Moving quicker than the infected who were now a short stone throw away from us, the six of us split into twos. Dereck and Tracy were the first ones to get organised, with Tracy pulling Dereck onto the roof with a cry of fear before I'd even turned around to tell them directly.

With a tap on the shoulder, I turned around to see Jamie on his knees and his hands forming a footstep, his piercing eyes looked at me with a sense of urgency. Without wasting a millisecond, I took a small running start and half threw my foot into his hands, hit a grunt he threw me upwards and my hands barely managed to find a grip on the smoothed over concrete roof.

I pulled myself up and spun around on my belly, throwing my arm down as Jamie leaped up, almost pulling me off the roof as his weight pulled down on me.

I held onto him as I got to my feet, using my left foot as a leverage I managed to pull him up just as the infected's paws scraping against his boots, breathing deeply as I did so.

With a final sigh, I pull him onto the roof and lying on my back my rucksack rustling beneath me, I breath in another sigh of relief when I see Rhys and Darren doing the same thing.

I give it a small laugh of triumph as I stand up, I still shake in fear despite the immediate danger having been dealt with. I walk over to the edge of the roof and look down, at least one hundred infected now occupy the space the six of us once held, snarling up at me. I become aware that the bell has stopped ringing and I would need to come up with _another _plan to get off this damn roof.

I back up from the edge and take a deep breath, I turn to the others who were also visibly shaken by the encounter.

"Everyone alright?" I ask as I rub my temples with my hands, trying to formulate a plan,"Whew that was a _close_ one."

"You don't fucking say Scott." came a sarcastic reply from Rhys.

Shaking my head I crouched down and took off my rucksack, I looked through its contents before pulling out the beakers I had haphazardly thrown in. Smiling at the fact it appeared empty, the reaction had been successful.

"What's your next brilliant plan Scott?" mocked Rhys, "Throw empty bottles at the infected?"

"Anyone got a match?" I ask around, ignoring Rhys' comment.

"I do," replies Dereck, "Was saving them for a fire tonight though..."

"I need it if we ever want to see tonight," I reply in an understanding voice.

"What for anyway?" asks Dereck, "That beaker's empty..."

"Oh no it isn't..." I say with a smile as I shake the beaker gently, the swirls of the gas within becoming visible as the noon light hit it.

"Is that Hydrogen-" Derreck begins before I cut over him.

"-Sulphide? Yes it is," I say, annoyance creeping into my voice because of how seemingly uncooperative everyone was being, "Now give me the damned match...please."

Sighing he reaches into his cluttered pockets and after a few seconds, retrieves a matchbox, looking up he hands it to me.

"Thank you Dereck," I say before muttering, "At least someone else sees the danger we're in..."

I take the matchbox and flick it open with my right fore finger and retrieve one safety match.

I close the box again before I strike the match against the side, it takes two attempts before the green covered tip ignites. Passing the box back to Dereck I quickly use it to ignite the wooden cork at the seal of the beaker, the cork lights and I run to the edge and throw the beaker down onto the infected below.

The beaker hit one of the infected in the face, the shattering bottle cutting it to shreds, a mixture of crimson blood and fungus spores spurted from what used to be the infected's face. As the infected fell beneath the hordes that had stacked up against the wall, the hydrogen sulphide catches fire as it falls (due to it being slightly heavier than air), covering dozens of tightly packed infected in flames before exploding, sending an ear shattering bang across the campus.

"That's done it!" I shout as the roar of infected sound off again and the stampede that followed.

"What have you done!?" shouted Rhys, "You'll lead them here!"

"Made us an opening Rhys," I said starting to get annoyed at his attitude. "They'll run towards where that explosion was," I say pointing behind me. "Opening up the car park for us to get out...you can thank me later," I say patting him on the back as I walk past him.

I reach the edge of the roof on the other side, looking down I estimated that it was a five to six meter drop to the ground but we didn't have any other choice to get out of here.

"Let's go," I call as I take a step over the edge, aiming for a dirt patch.

I experience a few seconds of sickening free-fall before the crunch of sticks sounded the end of it. I let out a muffled yelp as a searing pain shoots up my legs, bringing me to my knees. I remain there, breathing deeply, until a pat on the shoulder brings my world back into focus.

"You okay?" Dereck asks looking concerned.

"Yeah," I croak out as I rise to my feet, "Yeah I'm good."

"Doesn't look like it," he responds as he helps me stable myself.

"I-I'll manage," I respond, holding back the wavering pain, "Thanks anyway."

I limp forward with the other five following closely, we cross through a section of the fence that had been brutally torn down by the infected hordes.

"Jesus," I mutter as we enter the street, "That was close..."

I turn to Rhys, "Back to your 'plan of action' then," I say to him, "Lead the way."

**A/N Another quick update guys, this will be that last chapter for a while as I'm going on holiday for a few weeks but they will resume when I return.**


	8. The Message

**Chapter 7 - "The Message" - 17****th**** October 2013, United Kingdom, 3:42pm**

I looked behind us to see the school, barely one hundred meters down the road, being swarmed by the horde of infected that had taken us over an hour just to maneuver around. I shook my head in disbelief before turning to the others, they had all sat down for a break aside inside a bust stop from Dereck who was pacing nervously.

"Anyone here got a phone?" I asked as I joined them inside.

"Nope," came the near unanimous reply.

"Well then," I said as I leaned on a wall, "Are we going to get moving?"

Rhys brushed past me on his way out, "Follow me," he said sternly.

Rhys led the way further down the street, I turned to give my school and my house one last look. Several fires had already started in the school as smoke belched from the windows, the smell of burning paper, plastic, paper, wood and metal stank out the air.

The plumes of smoke cast up high into the sky, tainting the otherwise cloudless sky with a choking black swirl. The main road that ran parallel to the school was a seemingly never ending line of abandoned cars, several of which still coughed out smoke through their shattered glass windows.

"Check some of these cars," I call out as we walk past yet more abandoned cars that cluttered up one side of the road.

We all split up to cover more cars in a shorter time, I walked over to a grey Ford and peered inside through one of the many broken windows, the driver side door had been forcibly opened and the blood soaked interior was all that remained of its occupants, aside from a faint blood trail leading to the nearby high flats.

_Poor bastards_, I think to myself as I begin looting the vehicle.

I try to ignore the horrific stench as I start to search various areas of the car, I only managed to recover some food, a pair of torches and another map from the driver and passenger side of the vehicle. As I leave the car something falls from behind the steering wheel, I pick it up to return it when I am immediately hit with a pang of guilt as I look at it, it was a family photo. There were four of them, the dad looked as if he was in his forties and the mother around the same age, two children -boys- smiled happily at the camera as their parents embraced them. They were on a beach as the sun set behind them, it was a beautiful picture.

"Sorry for this..." I apologise in a soft whisper.

I leave the picture on the driver's seat and leave the car, I take a brief look inside the trunk to find it empty, _They must've left in a hurry_, I conclude internally.

"Anyone find anything!?" I hear Rhys shout.

"Nothing much!" I reply, "Just a bit of food, two torches and a map."

"More that what I've got!" came another shout from behind me.

"Right, just leave the cars!" ordered Rhys, "Let's just keep moving."

I catch up to the rest and share out my findings, giving Rhys and Dereck a torch, the map to Darren and the food to Tracy and Jamie.

"Right we can either keep following the road towards the military checkpoint down there," said Rhys while gesturing towards the continuing line of cars, "Or we can check out that high flat..."

"You can't be frakking serious," I reply in disbelief, remembering the blood trail from the car, "That place will be swarming with infected."

"If we're quiet we should be alright," countered Rhys, "You said it yourself, those things are mainly attracted to sound."

"Fine then," I say, not wanting to start an argument, "If one of us are brutally mauled to death, I won't hesitate to say 'I told you so' okay?"

Wordlessly Rhys led our group towards the fifteen storey flats, we passed by a deserted train station and walked around a fallen lamppost, the car it had crushed still smouldering.

After about a minute or so of walking we had arrived at the high flats, the doors looked as if they had been blown open by an explosive, shards of glass and splinters of wood lay across the floor.

"Do you guys even have a weapon?" I ask, twirling my metal pipe in my hands.

"Yep," replied Rhys as him and Darren held up their baseball bats, "The P.E Department was kind to part with them."

Jamie held up the two modified hammers from the Technical Department, that only left Dereck and Tracy.

"You two got anything?" I ask again.

Tracy shook her head and rested her head on Dereck's shoulders.

"We left everything back at the school..." said Dereck, "We did plan on staying there after all."

"Right..." I start, "You two stay with me, Jamie you stay with Rhys and Darren, we get out of there the first sign of trouble. I don't want to lose anyone in there."

I led Dereck and Tracy inside, with Rhys taking Darren and Jamie up the nearest stairwell. I approach the first room in the musty corridor and slide the door open, revealing a scene of absolute chaos clothes were strewn across the floor, several chairs and windows were broken and a small pool of blood had a gathered in a corner of the room.

"Let's make this quick," I mutter as I begin searching through the cupboards in the kitchen.

I begin to pull out a handful of canned food and stuff it into my rucksack, shivering slightly as a cold breeze comes in through the nearby window, making the curtains dance and hit the side of my exposed neck, I walk over to the fridge after deciding that there was nothing else left in the cupboards worth taking.

I turn around to see Dereck emerging from the bedroom with a grey backpack and a golf club, I nod at him before returning to the fridge, retrieving several bottles of water and fizzy drinks. I throw him and Tracy an equal amount and shut the fridge door, that was when I noticed a radio on the table.

I walk over to it and pick it up, the radio still had batteries inside it, satisfied I returned it to the table and turned it on, the crackle of static filled the room.

"Any of you know what frequency the BBC is on?" I ask quietly.

"Nope," replied Dereck.

Sighing I begin switching through frequencies until a sharp tone filled the room, making me jump back in surprise.

A series of short tones were emitted from the radio before an automated English sounding male voice started speaking.

"_Attention, this is an Emergency Broadcast Alert_," the voice began, something about the emotionless tone it was emitting sent a chill down my spine, "_The Government has issued a nationwide emergency notice to all citizens this is not a test, a viral infection has broken out across the country and has been confirmed as being highly contagious. All citizens are advised to remain in their homes, help is on the way. All Telecom lines and other communication services may be taken down to prioritise military and emergency response communications . The military is now in the process of setting up Evacuation and Quarantine Zones inside or near major cities and towns. If you come into contact with anyone displaying the following symptoms please contact your local police department: _

_Loss of muscle control, Excessive bleeding around a 'bite' area, Loss of memory, Noticeable head trauma or pain._

_Please be warned that the infected may attack randomly, if you are attacked by the infected keep your distance at all costs. The infection is believed to spread by saliva to blood or blood to blood contact. Stay tuned on this frequency for further updates and information_."

The message repeated after another series of sharp tones, I turned down the radio to see a concerned looking Dereck.

"This is actually happening..." he said rubbing his forehead before repeating, "This is actually happening..."

"It sounds like it's everywhere," I said as I looked out the shattered window to see another plume of smoke start to rise in the distance, "Let's get the rest of this floor cleared out then."

**A/N Well I'm back now and got this chapter out in good time, expect another one tomorrow. As always thanks for your feedback and I hope you're enjoying this story so far.**


	9. Fifteen Storeys of Hell

**Chapter 8 - "Fifteen Storeys of Hell" - 17****th**** October 2013, United Kingdom, 4:10pm**

I turn from the window and walk over to the radio, upon deciding to take it with me I fold up the antenna and take off my rucksack, stowing the radio in the main section. I put on the rucksack and leave the room as Tracy and Dereck follow me closely, _I'll need to find Tracy a rucksack and a weapon_, I note mentally as we try the second door only to find it locked.

I ready the pipe for a swing at the cracked window located halfway up the door, "Watch my back," I ask Dereck with a grunt as I swing the pipe.

The pipe shatters the glass instantly with a deafening _smash_, the hundreds of glass shards landing with a _chh_.

"Dereck stay out here," I asked as I tossed my rucksack through the window, "Warn us if you see anything."

"No problem."

I clear away any sharp pieces of glass before attempting to squeeze through the window, I fall into the room almost face first. Looking around feeling slightly dazed, I am thankful to find that this room had the same layout as the last. I get to my feet and carry my rucksack over to a cluttered kitchen table, I leave it there while I start rifling through the cupboards.

"Tracy, see what you can find in the bedrooms," I say as I carry the first set of food back to the table, _I'll need to divide this out, I can't carry all of this_.

Tracy disappeared into one of the bedrooms, returning a few minutes later with a decent sized green back pack, "This do?" she asked me as I laid the final set of food and drink on the table.

"I guess so," I answer after inspecting the backpack briefly, "Help me with these supplies over by the table."

Tracy followed me back to the table and we split the supplies between us, she took the food I'd given her earlier out of her pockets and stuffed them into her rapidly filling bag.

"Take one of those knives from the kitchen and tape it to the end of a broom or something," I said to Tracy as I taped another knife onto the 'hilt' of the pipe making a total of three attached knives.

With a nod Tracy took the tape from me and retrieved a long steak knife from the kitchen worktop, she then set about finding a broom to attach it to.

After she had found a broom from a closet, she quickly taped the knife to the edge of it and returned to the kitchen to join me.

"Not bad," I compliment as I admire her handiwork, "Let's get out of here then..."

I pick up my rucksack from the table, noticing its increased weight, and toss it back through the smashed door window.

With a muffled grunt I climb though the window and land on my feet this time, I pick up my rucksack and slip it on.

"We should get heading," I say as I help Tracy out through the broken window, "We can't carry any more."

"What about me?" asked Dereck looking alarmed, "I don't have much on me!"

"That's because I'd rather have someone carry medical supplies," I assure him, "Let's get the others."

I wander over to the stairwell and call up, "Guys let's go, we're leaving!"

No response.

"For fraks sake!" I shout, "Come on guys!"

I start climbing the stairwell, the light was flowing in through though several shattered and cracked windows, creating a golden dusty shower that lit up the otherwise bland stairwell. I look around for them but I only find broken down doors and several dried blood trails on the floor that led further up the stairwell.

I checked in each room, only finding ransacked cupboards inside each of them, _Where the hell are they_? I thought to myself before loud footsteps on the floor above answered the question for me.

I was about to ask Rhys what the rush was about as they stopped at the stairs before the shrill scream of several dozen infected answered that question for me as well.

"You've got to be frakking kidding me!" I shout at the infected as they paused on the stairwell for a split second.

Dereck took a look over the railing and turned back to me with a terrified look on his face, "They're below us!" he warned, "We're surrounded!"

"Block that stairway!" I ordered, "Fr-"

My curse was interrupted by one of the lead infected tackled me to the ground, I rolled backwards through a doorway and stumbled to my feet. I searched anxiously for my pipe as the infected began to rise, my eyes widened as I spotted it lying beneath a table on the other side of the room.

Dashing across the room I dropped to a crouch as I picked up the pipe, I turn around to see the infected back on its feet and charging once more. Seeing no other option I to charged, holding the pipe like a lance.

The infected swung its arms wildly, I ducked underneath its blows and thrust my knife-tipped pipe into its abdomen and twisted it for good measure.

The infected let out a viscous howl and snapped its jaws at me, staring at me with its cold dead eyes.

"Frak you to," I conclude as I remove the pipe from its chest and slash open its neck with the angled knife, the spurting crimson-yellow mixture flooding the wooden flooring around where it spattered.

I looked at the corpse for a few seconds, breathing deeply, before a shout from the stairwell brought me back to my senses.

Running out into the stairway I find numerous bodies of the infected and a crowd of them trying to force open a door, _This is __**really**__ frakking stupid but it should work_...I think to myself as I come up with a daring idea.

I run back into the apartment and locate some matches, I take off my rucksack and take out another beaker. I return to the stairwell to begin my plan.

"Hey you mother frakkers!" I shout out loudly, my voice drowning out the incomprehensible moans of the infected causing them to turn slowly, "Oh shit you guys are some ugly mother fungi!"

_Well __**that**__ got their attention_, I think to myself as I recoil at their hideously mutated faces.

"Now that we're all acquainted allow me to introduce my friend Mister Beaker," I continue as I light the wooden cork of the beaker, _what terrible joke should I use to finish this_? I think quickly as my hand starts to shake now that the infected have begun to approach me, "Now you'll love him, really he's a **smashing** bloke but watch it he has an **explosive** temper!"

I throw the beaker at the crowd of incoming infected and watch the glass shatter, I throw myself back into the apartment with a muffled curse as the mixture lights and falls.

I hit the ground as the mixture detonated outright, sending a bright light and a deafening bang throughout the high flat and the surrounding area.

I get to my feet and cover my ears, t_hat hurt,_ I think to myself as I put on my rucksack and lift up my pipe.

I stumble outside to the stairwell to find everyone else waiting for me, "You guys frakking owe me like...twenty for that!" I shout at them, still recovering my hearing, "And I ain't doing that again...ever!"

Rhys shook his head, "Let's go!" he shouted despite it hearing like a normal sounding order to me, "They're coming!"

We ran out of the high flats and kept following the main road into town with the infected giving up the chase after a few hundred meters.

"Where'd that emergency message say that check point was again?" asked Dereck once we slowed down.

"It never said," I replied, "But I'm guessing that's it..."

A large wall of sandbags were strewn across a roundabout, several large trucks had been parked across several roads leading off from the roundabout, blocking them. Dozens of wire fences had been set up and a large sign read "**LOCAL EVACUATION POINT: APPROACH UNARMED**" the rest was too small to read from this distance.

"Let's go then..." I say as I begin approaching the checkpoint with everyone following closely, "This is where this gets interesting..."

**A/N There's another chapter out, hope you enjoyed it!**


	10. Approach Unarmed

**Chapter 9 - "Approach Unarmed" - 17****th**** October, United Kingdom, 4:55 pm**

Slowly we began to approach the checkpoint, my eyes dart over the eerily quiet area, there are no signs of life – survivors or otherwise. I look over to Jamie and Rhys as they check through one of the dozens of derelict cars that cluttered the road on one side. They shake their heads at me, telling me that they'd found nothing, confirming my thoughts that we probably weren't the first people through here. I look to my left to see an abandoned Primary School, several windows and doors had been bashed in and the heavy smell of smoke hung in the air.

"Stay sharp," I warn as we near the checkpoint, "I don't like the looks of this."

The rest of the group turned to see why I had voiced my concerns, signs of a fight were now visible from the distance from which we stood. Shell casings littered the area in front of the checkpoint and the resulting bullet holes had cratered the exteriors of several cars. We pause for a few moments to survey the scene around us, I notice the bodies of several infected lying haphazardly near the entrance to the school on our left.

Feeling curious I walk over to take a look at the bodies, I reach them after a few seconds of walking and crouch beside one, my nose crinkling in disgust at the smell.

I roll the body over and blood drips from several gunshot wounds in its torso onto the pavement, I gag quietly as I take in the extent of the damage that the fungus inflicted on the host's body. The heads of almost all of the infected had splintered open in several places, allowing the fungal growth to expand outside the brain, several bags of puss had also grown on areas of skin of the infected, my best guess was that these contained the spores that I'd seen before.

Standing up again, I cough as a small number of tiny spores from the body drift up into the air and past my face, I turn back to the group and signal for us to move onwards towards the checkpoint.

I manoeuvre my way past some cars, many of them with bodies inside, the checkpoint was barely a dozen meters way now and there was still no sign of life. The checkpoint sign was legible from this distance but all it seemed to detail was the process of searching cars and other pieces of information. Deep down, I got the feeling that something wasn't right here, we should be seeing soldiers by now.

That was when a series of bullets flew over our heads.

I threw myself to ground and rolled behind a large van, I turned to see that the rest of the group had done the same.

"You've gotta be frakking kidding me..." was my silent response to the situation.

I stood up and shuffled to the edge of the van to take a look at who was shooting at us, the rattling of bullet on metal impacts deafened me as the sound became overwhelming. I peeked round the corner to see a group of teenagers and adults shooting several weapons at us and comically trying to control their weapon's recoil. I backed away from the edge as several shots were aimed in my direction.

"So much for the military!" shouted Dereck over the chaos as he crouched behind the trunk of a red car, being sure to keep Tracy embraced in his arms for her protection.

I curse in frustration as I formulate a quick plan in my head, I was unsure why those people at the checkpoint were shooting at us – even after us getting close enough that they had to have seen that we weren't infected.

My best guess was that we would be able to flank around the checkpoint by taking a side road that went around the school and joined up with another road on the other side of the checkpoint.

I was also concerned about the gunfire drawing in more infected as the gunshots were a hell of a lot louder than my high school's bell and that was loud enough to attract hundreds of them.

I flinch as several shots ricocheted on the van I was hiding behind, the distinct _ping_ sound as it hit the metal exterior of the van was deafening from this range. I estimated that there could be no more than four guns firing at us so that should be easy enough to evade in the time that it would take us to disappear behind the school.

A sense of overwhelming fear came over me as a bullet punched a hole in the van's rear door, missing my already wounded arm by inches. I curse in surprise as I jump away from the hole.

"Jamie, Rhys!" I shout out after a few seconds of delay, "Follow me!"

The two of them nod and move to join me behind the van, I duck down by the edge as I prepare to move, my hands begin to tremble with uncertainty.

"Okay," I say in an attempt to calm myself down, "We go in three...two...one..."

I throw myself out from behind the van after I finish the countdown, several bullets fly over my head seconds after I left my cover.

_Crack._

_Ping._

_Smash._

I duck behind a small car as my legs give up, I breath deeply as I gather my strength for the next push.

I run in a crouch as I attempt to run to another car, zigzagging this time, several shots land near my feet, kicking up tarmac into my face and eyes.

I throw myself into a forward roll to complete the final few few meters, cringing at an inflamed bruise on my shoulder as I roll over.

"Son of a bitch!" I cry out as I nurse the bruise and run full pelt onto the road around the school, the gunfire against us ceasing moments after we left their sight.

Wordlessly I continue up the road, pushing the nearby gunfire to the back of my mind, I walk up the road as it starts to wind up a hill.

I glance over to the right as I try to pick out the road that I'm looking for against the countless abandoned and ruined cars that cluttered the road.

Rhys and Jamie jog to catch up to me as I turn off onto the narrow street, I spy out an abandoned military truck at the bottom of the road.

Smoke still rising from the engine and the wheel strangled by barbed wire.

We run to the truck to investigate, taking care to avoid being seen by anyone in the checkpoint as we are now back in their sights. I am slightly relieved to find that this side of the checkpoint is entirely unguarded, proving my suspicion that there weren't many people inside.

Several gunshots bring me back to my senses as I comb through the empty truck, a nearby radio spits out static as the distant sound of rotor blades rumbled in the distance. After a few minutes of looking we give up on the truck, we weren't the first ones to look through it.

"Right so we're going up against guns with nothing but a pipe and a few bats...perfect," I mutter pessimistically.

As I turn in the direction of the checkpoint a helicopter flies overhead, the symbol of the RAF noticeable against the otherwise dull grey paint.

The helicopter and the checkpoint exchanged shots but the inexperience of the civilians inside proved to be their downfall as they are gunned down by the helicopter's seemingly remorseless onslaught.

As the screams of those inside fade, the checkpoint, and the area around it, falls into an eerie silence, I cast a nervous look at Rhys as the chopper flies behind several buildings and the sound of its rotors vanishes before I began to approach the checkpoint.

It takes us twenty seconds of uncertain walking to reach the perimeter wall of the checkpoint, the grey paint already scarred by bullets and scratches alike.

After a short period of nomination, we decide to send Jamie over the wall to unlock the door, Rhys boosted Jamie up as I began pacing anxiously. I didn't like being forced up against a wall like this especially when we were basically unarmed.

I remained in this state for a few seconds before I was interrupted by a loud _bang_ from inside the checkpoint. I turn in alarm to be greeted by the sight of an open door and Jamie smiling sheepishly as he cradled an assault rifle in his arms.

"An L85A2," Rhys concluded as he approached Jamie, "Bull pup design using NATO rounds. Not a bad find Jamie."

Jamie proceeded to open up the main gate to let Darren, Dereck and Tracy though as me and Rhys began to sort through the bloody mess inside the checkpoint in an attempt to retrieve a firearm.

I pick up a pistol after several minutes of searching, after further inspection I conclude it to be a USP 45 with two mags spare and an attached flash-light. I slot the pistol and associated mags into my right pocket and continue searching, becoming more and more aware of the fading light.

After another ten minutes of searching we had managed to piece together two assault rifles, a shotgun and three pistols between the six of us. We had a total of four mags for the assault rifles – two of them half empty -, six slugs for the shotgun and five full mags for the pistols.

We had secured the doors of the checkpoint after another thirty minutes and were debating on wither or not to hole up here for the night, I scanned over the darkened area with my flash-light that I had retrieved from my rucksack, the sharp LED light illuminated the area in front of me for twelve meters, I let out a tired yawn, it had been a long and eventful day.

I sat down at a nearby table inside a restaurant and turned the flash-light off, leaving me alone in the silence, I heard Jamie and Rhys toiling away in the background as they tried to force open a door to a house without attracting the entire town.

Deep down a part of me wished that what had happened today was merely a dream, that I would wake up and go to school and sit my pre-lims, that I would then go on to finish the course and sit my exams.

A larger part of me however knew that this was reality now, the world I knew when I dozed off twenty four hours ago was gone, and now this hell hole of a world had taken its place.

I looked out of the cracked windows to see a sky I had never seen above the town, it was becoming ablaze with stars, I felt a strange sense of relaxation wash over me and closed my eyes as a result. The distinct sound of hinges giving in and breaking forced them open again.

"What the hell?" I slurred out in tiredness as I look over to see that the door to the house had been removed, "Oh good job guys!"

I breathed in another tired sigh and stood up, pocketing the flash-light as I did so.

Yawning silently, I walked over to Jamie and Rhys to congratulate them, the journey took me about ten minutes as I stumbled across the checkpoint, only to find all five of the group out cold on couches and mattresses that they'd arranged in the front room of the house.

"Fine be like that," I mutter, "Take all the beds."

I leave the house grumbling, "You lazy bastards."

I return to my table before pulling out my I-Pod and putting on the earphones. I flicked through my music list and deciding on playing Bear McCreary's 'Admiral and Commander' from Season Three of 'Battlestar Galactica', I turned off the I-Pod's screen and sat back as the calm yet powerful music played through the earphones and helped me to drift off.

"To Galactica" I mutter as I raise a glass of Coca Cola that I'd poured earlier, the drink was flat now but still enjoyable, "Best ship in the fleet."

I smile at the quote and down the glass, finding myself out cold and sleeping minutes later.

**A/N Another chapter up folks! Sorry for the long delay of this update, I'm back at school now and I'm already being snowed in with homework. I'll try to update once or twice a week though. Thanks for sticking with me and as always keep those review coming!**


	11. A Final Glance

**Chapter 10 - "A Final Glance" - 18****th**** October, United Kingdom, 7:29am **

I awoke with a laboured sigh, gazing around the room in muted shock that what I had lived through yesterday actually happened. I pinch myself in the weak hope that what I was still some form of dream, it had to be.

My pointless and futile efforts were interrupted by my iPod's alarm going off, slamming home the message of what had happened. I terminated the alarm and sat down on a wooden chair in the restaurant and started to breath in short, almost gasping, uncontrolled breaths. I sat in this state before a distant shriek brought me back to my senses.

I stood up from the chair with a muffled shout of surprise, I walked over to a nearby window, through which the gentle morning light had already started to peer through.

I reached the window and looked outside to find a few features I had missed yesterday, for instance a football field on a large area of grass near to the roundabout had been converted into a heli-pad with a small area for ground vehicles. To my disappointment however, both areas were empty, giving me an idea that the army had pulled out shortly after the amount of infected increased – possibly to fortify somewhere else of greater importance.

I gathered my gear together and walked out of the door of the restaurant into the featureless centre of the military checkpoint. With a sigh I climb a steep ramp and peer over the wall. My eyes widen when I see a small group of infected shuffling down the street, I duck for a few seconds and look at the building that the rest of the group spent the night in, I concluded that it would be too risky to shout on them so I carefully backed down the slope and walked over to the building.

"Guys?" I call out as I knock on the door, "You lazy assholes up yet?"

Upon receiving no response I sigh and walk away from the door, _Might as well see what else I can scrounge up_, I think to myself as I search through some containers in one corner of the checkpoint. My efforts are rewarded with the discovery of military grade binoculars, I smile at the new addition to my arsenal before stuffing it into my rucksack.

Returning to the restaurant I take off my rucksack and put it down near a table. I then start searching through the cupboards in order to find food that the local inhabitants hadn't taken during the initial panic of the outbreak, I recover two additional packets of crisps and a can of Pepsi.

Sighing, I return to my rucksack to store the food, I lift up the rucksack to check its weight and it seemed acceptable. I put on the rucksack and walk outside to find the checkpoint still empty, I groan as I walk back up to the wall to keep an eye on the infected that I'd seen earlier.

To my surprise they hadn't moved very far since the last time I'd seen them, upon taking a closer look with the binoculars I notice that they seemed to be moving with jerky and unnerving movements, almost as if they were resisting the fungus. The thought of that sent a chill down my spine causing me to pocket the binoculars and go back down the ramp with a stone in my gut.

I return to the restaurant with a horrified look on my face, shaking somewhat as I take a seat. A knock at the door shortly later revived me from this state as I turned around to check who had finally woken up.

"Morning Scott," greeted Jamie from where he stood in the doorway.

"Oh...er...morning," I said quickly, dumping the thought of the infected outside, "How long you been up?"

"A few minutes, Rhys and Darren are still out cold," He replied as he took a seat, "The two others are as well."

"I can't believe this has actually happened..." I trailed off, "This is just...bullshit."

"I know..." Jamie trailed off quickly as he gazed in the direction of the window.

"Anything on the radio?" I asked after a few moments, "You know about the outbreak?"

"I dunno, didn't you take it?" he responded as he stood up to get something to eat.

"Oh shit, I did have it didn't I?" I said as I searched through my rucksack for the radio.

Jamie returned to the table moments later with a bag of chips and a can of coke to find me still rummaging through my rucksack.

"Got it!" I said as I pulled out the radio and put it on the table.

I twisted a few dials on the radio after I turned it on, it seemed that static was on every station until I got a clear signal.

"_-he military is now in the process of setting up Evacuation and Quarantine Zones inside or near major cities and towns."_

"That's the same broadcast as yesterday..." Dereck sighed as he entered the room, he yawned before continuing, "This virus must be outta hand..."

"_Please be warned that the infection is believed to spread by saliva to blood, blood to blood contact and has been recently confirmed as being airborne. The following updates have been judged as relevant to your receiving area-_"

"That's new!" Dereck almost shouted, "Wait...did that say _airborne_?"

"Yeah..." I said with a heavy sigh, "Be quiet though, I want to hear this..."

"_The area from 'Margaret Street' to 'Cathcart Street' have been secured by your local authorities and evacuations by the Royal Navy are already underway. If you are within or near these areas please report to the authorities for immediate evacuation._

_Please take care when travelling as those Infected are confirmed to be highly aggressive. Further updates will follow on this frequency over the coming hours._"

"We'll that's it then," I said slowly as I outlined the 'safe' zone on a mental map, "We're literally less than half a kilometre from there."

"Why those streets anyway?" Dereck asked as he retrieved some food from the table.

"That's more or less the entire length of the harbour," I explain as I take some food out of my rucksack to share, "Finish that and we'll wake the others."

Dereck nodded and started eating, I stood up and hefted my rucksack onto my shoulders and walked outside.

By this time the sun had cleared the nearby hills and shone a powerful light down on the town, I decided to check out some other boxes in the checkpoint before we moved on.

It was almost half an hour later before everyone was ready to go, we had divided up our findings from yesterday equally between us, leaving my rucksack considerably lighter.

We gathered near the gate at the rear of the checkpoint after looking over the checkpoint for the last time, with a final glance over the checkpoint I turned to open the gate.

The gate slowly screeched open, taking the entire group to force a decent sized opening, I looked over the outside area quickly, taking in a few items of note; a distant overturned car, a small shuffling group of infected about sixty meters away, another abandoned military truck on our left and the smouldering remains of a house several dozen meters away.

I walk sideways to the military truck, eyeing the distant infected intently as I did so. With a brief look inside the vehicle I saw nothing of interest, with only blood soaked seats and used shell casings decorating the interior. I turn away from the truck in disgust only to be hit by the pungent stench of the destroyed house, the heavy, scorched smell contaminating the entire street.

I signal to the rest of the group to move up, taking care not to alert the crowd of the infected ahead.

"How we gonna go about this?" Asked Rhys once we reached another car ten meters in front of the truck, "Firing into them would be suicide..."

"To be honest I have no idea..." I said honestly as I took another look, "They seem out of it anyway. They should have noticed that gate opening..."

Rhys popped his head above the car, "We're coming to a junction soon, they could come at us from anywhere..."

"I know..." I responded before I fell into a period of thinking, "Look for something that we can throw at them..."

"If they never heard the gate opening, they wont hear anything hitting right in front of them for gods sake!" Rhys said quickly, "What are you thinking?"

"Ah..." I said with a smile, "I fancied a bit of target practice."

Before Rhys could respond I picked up a nearby glass bottle and hurled it at the infected, the bottle shattered at one of the infected's feet causing it to scream in rage as it stomped down on the pieces of broken glass.

I looked at the display with my body filling with cold fear, _what the hell are these things?_ I asked myself as the display continued.

I crouched down again and turned to Rhys, "You ready for this?" I ask him as I hand him an empty tin can, "If that got their attention, then this'll make a racket."

I gave a short, five second countdown once everyone had found something to throw, "Three...two...one...now!"

All of us threw a volley of various items at the crowd of infected before standing up and walking to them slowly, melee weapons at the ready.

Several of the thrown items hit some infected on the head, causing them to fall over before they tried to upright themselves.

One by one the infected began to notice us and formed a charge, their animalistic grunts growing louder the closer they got.

I readied my lead pipe as the first of the infected closed to five meters, its contorted face far from resembling the human it once was, the infected sped up and threw itself at me, only for its face to connect with the side of my pipe. Blood and spores seeped from the wound as the infected fell to the floor despite this, the infected still tried to stand up again a move that was crushed by my killing blow as I brought the pipe down on its skull. Killing it instantly with a sickening _crack_, I had no time to recover from this attack however as another infected was soon trying to grab me.

I forced back the infected with my pipe as I readied to take a swing at its head, luckily -for the infected anyway- my swing missed as the infected ducked. I never had time to swing again so the infect sent me to the floor, my back hitting the cold, hard road with a _crack_ winding me as the onslaught continued.

The infected snarled at me as I fought to get upright again, its jaws snapping at me like a feral dog as it tried to bite into my neck. I swung my pipe again with what little strength I could muster in an effort to topple the infected that had clambered on top of me, my pipe struck the infected in the ribs, sending it to the floor with the sound of bone snapping. I stood up quickly to finish off the infected only to be floored by another one, my pipe dropping to the floor from the force of the tackle.

My body was almost thrown onto a car bonnet, winding me yet again and removing me of the power to fight back as my arms became heavy to move.

I coughed as I stumbled in my attempt to regain balance, my vision blurring as I backed off from the fight, it looked like the others weren't doing any better than I was.

"Frak it!" I shouted as I upholstered my pistol, "We're dead either way!"

Before anyone could take in what I'd said, I pulled the trigger.

The deafening _bang_ from the discharge of the pistol froze every infected in front of me, the one I had shot fell to the floor. A wide hole through the centre of its forehead.

Every infected in front of me began running towards me, forcing me to pull the trigger again. Another infected fell to the ground hard, then another.

By this time I was panicking and threw myself over a waist height wall, regaining my posture in time to take out another few infected.

Jamie began firing at this point, catching two infected in the crossfire, they fell to the floor riddled with bullets.

_Only two to go_... I think to myself as I start to reload, _And then we get the frak outta here_.

Another few seconds of gunfire ended the fight, leaving us alone in a sea of corpses, distantly, a loud succession of screams -wither infected or not I couldn't tell- echoed over the town.

"We need to go **now**!" I shouted as everyone recovered from the ordeal.

We took off down a side alley that kept going in the direction of the street, we paused after thirty seconds of running to catch our breath and check that everyone was good to go.

"Every one good?" asked in between pants, "That was a frakking close one!"

"Good here!" Replied mostly everyone after a brief check.

"I'm good," responded Dereck after a pause, "So where to now?"

"To the harbour I guess but we'll need to bypass the to-" I was halfway through saying before a loud, distant shout startled me.

"What the hell?" asked Rhys in surprise.

We crept further up the alley to check where the shout had come from, all of us stopped once we saw the source.

"What. The. Flying. Frak." I said in response to the scene.

Barely one hundred meters away, a large group of survivors were trapped inside a large secondary school campus by a horde of infected that dwarfed the one that we had faced at my secondary school.

I looked at the others in disbelief, I turned back to the scene after a brief moment to see a section of the gates give way and the infected began to pour in. One of the survivors never even had time to respond as the horde engulfed him, a mangled torso was all that remained of him after a dozen infected finished him off. The rest of the horrified survivors ran inside the building and ran out onto the roof minutes later, effectively condemning themselves to death.

"So do we help them?" Jamie asked as the scene unfolded, "Because that could have been us yesterday..."

"I don't think we can..." I said with a heavy heart, Dereck and Rhys agreed with me while Tracy and Darren continued staring at the massacre, "We don't even have the man power to fight through that crowd anyway..."

"We can't just leave them!" Jamie shouted back in a whisper.

"We **have** to leave them Jamie," I stated again, "They can't be saved and we might have a chance to get past that horde with all of that going on!"

Jamie didn't respond, instead looking at one of the survivors on the roof who had clearly noticed us and was waving to get our attention, "We can at least try..." he said quietly.

**A/N – I finally had the time to do a quick update! Please Review and tell me what you think of the story so far, thanks for sticking with the story anyway and let's hope I get another chapter out tomorrow!**


	12. The Choice

**Chapter 11 - "The Choice" - 18****th**** October 2013, United Kingdom, 11:28am**

I sat looking at the unfolding scene with mute horror written across my face, I turned to Jamie.

"You still wanna do this?" I asked him quietly.

Jamie nodded, "I wouldn't want to go out like that..."

"That's one to go, one to stay," I tallied before turning to the rest, "Raise your hand if you want to try a rescue."

Darren and Tracy raised their hands.

"Lovely..." I sighed, knowing fine well what Rhys and Dereck were going to say, "A stalemate..."

"Actually..." Dereck chimed in, "I'll go with rescue, mainly because that really could have been me and Tracy if you guys hadn't showed up."

I rolled my eyes and looked at Jamie, "Democracy rules. Lead the way."

Jamie nodded, to his credit he wasn't smug in his victory, and led the way down a set of steps that took us to the road that would lead us to the school.

_I can't believe that they're actually going to go through with this..._I thought in disbelief as I followed Jamie down the steps, _This is frakking lunacy_.

I looked to my right and saw the besieged school through the gaps in the large, rusted steel fence, several overgrown branches hung over the top of the fence and almost brushed against my face as I walked down the steps.

I moved my head to avoid several of these branches before turning to talk to Rhys, "I can't believe that they actually want to go in there..." I muttered to him silently.

"I know..." he answered quickly, "It's stupid."

"If shit hits the fan sideways I'm bugging out," I continued, "You with me on that one?"

"Sure," He replied as he looked over his gun briefly, "Where'd you want to meet up if we get separated?"

"Go to the train tracks back there," I said gesturing my thumb in the direction, "Wait for five minutes for either me or someone else to show before even thinking about moving to the evacuation site. Okay?"

"Got it," he said as we reached the bottom of the stone steps and our feet hit the pavement.

I looked to my left to check for any Infected on the road, my brief glance over the area reveals nothing threatening and I look forwards again. By this point the moans of the infected from the school had become a roar and I felt a sense of fear as I turned right onto the road that took us to the school's entrance.

"Wait," I say as we move slowly up the street, "Wouldn't it make more sense if we climbed over the fence here and moved around the outside?"

"Actually...yeah it would..." Jamie admitted before he began climbing the fence, the fence itself was the same used around my secondary school so I didn't have high hopes about it being able to keep the infected at bay.

I grabbed onto the thin, black wiring that made up the fence and began lifting myself up, taking care not to impede anyone else's efforts to reach the top. After five seconds of repeating this action I reached the top of the fence where I rolled over the top of it, grabbed onto a piece of fencing below me and lowered myself down, landing with a _thud_ on the concrete below.

I looked to my left to keep an eye on the infected as they assaulted the school as I waited for the others to scale the fence. The wait lasted a further ten seconds before everyone was over the fence and ready to go, I followed Jamie's lead as we moved closer to the school.

I held my breath as we passed the man who we'd seen the infected maul to death's corpse, _God, there's almost nothing left of him..._I thought with a muffled gasp as the putrid stench from his lifeless body filled the surrounding area.

I looked behind me as we neared the rear of the horde, barely being able to hear my own thoughts over the inhuman noise the Infected were making.

_Why are we doing this!?_ I thought as my legs began to shake in fear, _Why?_

"Okay everyone..." Jamie said from the front, "We get though these Infected in front of us, climb through the windows and get those people inside out. Sound good?"

"Let's go for it," said Dereck as I remained wordless.

"Five..." Jamie began to countdown, "Four..."

_Three...two...one...go, _I finished mentally before we began walking forward.

Jamie walked up behind one of the six Infected that blocked us and clubbed it in the back of the head with a brick that he'd recovered, the body of the Infected fell silently to the floor.

Before the second infected could react I beat it across the back of its neck with my pipe, the sickening _crack_ as the steel hit bone making me feel slightly sick before I ducked another Infected's clumsy attack, stabbing it in the upper torso with the blade I'd secured at my pipe's hilt moments later.

With a forceful twist I removed the blade and backed off as the rest of the group finished off the remaining Infected.

I regained my posture as Rhys double checked that his Infected victim was truly dead, the smell of the spores becoming more pungent the longer we stayed there.

"Well that went well..." remarked Dereck as he removed his knife from the back of an Infected's head.

"Don't jinx us," said Tracy as she went to climb through a window.

I laugh nervously as I follow her, rolling over the lip of the window sill and landing in an empty class room moments later. The room was dark, dark enough that the glimmers of sunlight from outside reached across the room in thin golden strands.

I looked over the room quickly for any Infected as the rest of the group climbed in through the window, to my eyes, the room was empty.

"Okay everyone," Jamie said as we reached the door, "Those people are on the top floor," He paused as he looked through the door's window, "I think that there's stairs around the corner but I'm not sure..."

I readied my pipe as Jamie began counting down, "We go in five...four...three...two," Jamie grabbed the door's handle, "On- Shit get down!"

Jamie backed off from the door as a series of growls filtered in through the classroom's walls.

"Fuck me..." He said as he stopped backing away from the door, "There's ten of the bastard's right outside!"

"We can take them!" Dereck pressed on.

"No we can't!" I countered, "We could barely take what seven of them in an open street. Never mind a cramped corridor!"

"Guys shut the hell up!" Darren warned as several Infected wandered close to the door, "You'll kill us all!"

I stepped back in the direction of the window as one of the Infected walked into the door, leaving a stain of blood and mucus as it's head bounced off the window.

"Guys. We need to leave. Now." I said as I took another step back.

"No-No!" Dereck hissed back, "I am not leaving those people!"

"Dereck shut up!" Tracy shouted, the fear distinguishable in her voice, "Please, you're not thinking about this..."

"We **have** to try!" Dereck insisted, "We ha-"

Dereck was interrupted by the shattering of glass as the slim window on the wooden door gave way.

"Oh **shit**," I mutter as I reach the window, "Now he's done it..."

With the window gone, the full rage of the Infected horde roared into the room, startling those nearest to the door.

I back up even more and almost fall backwards through the open window, causing one of my rucksack's straps to catch on a thin crack in the wooden window sill.

"Fucking frak this you mother frakking fuckwits," I curse in fear as I desperately try to pull the straps loose, I glance up to see one of the hinges on the door give way to the horde, "Son of a bitch!"

By this time everyone had quit their petty argument and had started to back up from the door.

"Ah shit..." Rhys trailed off as he flipped over a table to delay the horde when it got through.

I continued to tug vigorously on my rucksack's straps, glancing up every few seconds to check the Infected's progress on the door.

"Someone check that they're not outside!" I suggest as I continue to fumble with the straps, "Like. Now!?"

A loud bang signals the fall of the door as it splintered in several areas, I glance up to see one Infected try to crawl through the gap.

"Come on you bastard..." I mutter at both the Infected and the stuck strap, "Come on!"

I unholster my pistol and point it in the direction of the door as Jamie climbs through the window on my left.

"Guys?" I ask as the lead Infected begins to stand up on our side of the door, "Any help with this?"

"Hang on!" Rhys shouts as he throws a knife into the back of the Infected's head, "A little busy here!"

"_Guys!_" I hear Jamie call from outside, "_We're good for now!_"

Rhys hurries over to me after he retrieved his knife and used it to saw through the wood trapping my strap.

I look over his shoulder as he gets to work to see another two Infected begin to crawl through the gap by the door.

"We're running outta time!" I warn as I hear more wood splintering.

"Almost got it," Rhys said as sweat gathered on his brow, "Watch my back!"

I hear a scream followed by the roars of several Infected not to far away as Rhys continued sawing, I felt a pang of regret for the doomed survivors upstairs as several more screams followed.

"Got it!" Rhys shouted as he tugged the strap loose.

Rhys rolled over the lip of the window and landed on his feet on the other side, I moved to follow him and began to climb through, holstering my pistol as I did so.

I swung my arms over the lip and was about to roll over it when I felt something tugging on my left foot, I let out a scream as I fell through the window, landing at an angle as I fell. I looked about groggily to see an Infected barely a foot away, snarling at me as it held onto my foot.

I shook my foot desperately as I reached around for my pipe that was lying by my side, the result was that the Infected was pulled out of the window alongside me, landing by me feet with it's malformed hand still clutched around my foot.

"Let go you bastard!" I shout as I use my arms to back away from the Infected as it tried to bite my ankle, "Oh no you don't!" I shout as I evade the bite.

My arm knocks the pipe away accidentally as I tried to grab it and my pistol was pinned underneath my side.

"God damn it!" I pant as I use my free foot to kick the Infected in the side of the head, hitting it off balance.

I crawl quickly to reach the pipe as the Infected tries to recover, reaching it within moments and turning around to face the Infected which was on it's feet by now and charging at me.

I use the pipe like a bayonet and stab the infected in the torso with the main attached knife before twisting it and hitting the mortally wounded infected with the hilt of the pipe, the action disembowelling it in a gruesome display. The Infected fell to it's knees and tried to tackle me to the floor with it's fading strength, an attempt blocked by my swift backlash that sent the Infected to the floor, well and truly dead. I stood there panting for a few seconds before my attention was caught by the rest of the group, who were standing around a fallen figure and several dead Infected.

"What the hell?" I ask as I join them before my look turns to one of horror, "Oh god, what the hell happened to Dereck?"

"Infected...another survivor...he tried to step in...got bitten..." Jamie explained briefly as Tracy collapsed into tears.

A knot in my throat tightened as her crying grew louder, "We really need to go..." I muttered to Jamie, "We can't stay here...There are a shit ton more in the school..."

"I know..." Jamie replied silently, "But I can't exactly leave him here like this can I?"

"We'll take his body to the train tracks," I suggested, "Do what we need to do there and go. There's nothing more than that we can do..."

Jamie nodded, "Tracy..." He said softly to Tracy over her wailing tears, "We need to go..."  
"I. Will not. Leave him here," Tracy stuttered.

"We're not leaving him here," Jamie continued softly, "Come on...we need to get moving before more of them come..."

Another loud bang echoed out of the school, making Tracy jump, after another minute of sobbing she stood up, her eyes red raw and nodded.

I sympathetically nodded at her before me and Rhys lifted Dereck's body and silently carried it in the direction of the train tracks.

**A/N Aaaand that's the end of that chapter folks! Say what you think in the reviews and I'll have another chapter up for you guys as soon as I can.**

**Again thanks to all of you for sticking with me and sharing your feed back!**


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